MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Relations between Russia and the United States are unlikely to improve until the crisis in Ukraine is settled, nonetheless U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent visit to Russia’s Sochi was a positive episode, Kremlin administration chief Sergei Ivanov said in an Interview with the Financial Times newspaper published on Sunday

"Of course, it is naive to think about strengthening relations until the conflict in Ukraine is settled," he said.

"As to Russian-American relations, we never wanted them to deteriorate. That is the leading country in the world, both economically and militarily," he said. "What is worrying is, that in my point of view, the rhetoric has started to go off-scale, sometimes from both sides. That I admit."

The Kremlin administration chief spoke about Kerry’s visit to Sochi in positive terms. He said Kerry had had long and detailed talks with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "in a friendly, normal atmosphere." "It is good because for the last year, Russian-American relations seriously soured. To be frank, there are practically no channels for interaction left," Ivanov said. "And from that perspective, the fact of Kerry’s visit, it seems to me, is positive.".